Lawsuit: Urgent care doctor responsible for leg amputation

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas City-area man has filed a lawsuit alleging that a trip to an urgent care clinic for a foot wound led to gangrene and a leg amputation.

Trenton Twidwell filed the lawsuit last month against Kristin Duncan, the doctor who treated him at the CareNow urgent care clinic in Overland Park. He's suing Duncan for medical negligence and lost chance of making a full medical recovery, the Kansas City Star reported .

Duncan diagnosed Twidwell with a common infection called cellulitis in August 2017 after he sought care for an open wound on the bottom of his left foot, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Duncan prescribed ineffective antibiotics, never cultured the wound and didn't order any lab work.

"In essence, (Twidwell's) infection was easily treatable, just not with oral broad spectrum antibiotic therapy," said Michael Rader, Twidwell's attorney. "Had the doctor done any workup or testing she could have easily identified the infection and its severity."

Twidwell called Duncan a week after his diagnosis, saying he couldn't walk on his foot because the wound had worsened, the suit said. He alleged she told him to "give the antibiotic time to do its job" and wrote him a prescription refill.

Twidwell was diagnosed with gangrene at the clinic a week later, according to the lawsuit. Gangrene is dead body tissue caused by an infection or lack of blood flow.He was then sent to Shawnee Mission Medical Center's emergency room, where doctors diagnosed Twidwell with sepsis, a life-threatening complication of bloodstream infections.

"By this time the infection was systemic and advanced past the point of antibiotic therapeutic treatment," the lawsuit stated. "Additionally, the tissue on his left foot was not viable. As a result, he underwent a high left below-knee amputation."

The newspaper was unable to reach Duncan for comment and a CareNow employee said she no longer works there. The clinic was Duncan's first job after completing her medical residency and a one-year sports medicine fellowship, according to her LinkedIn page.